Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SHOWY MILKWEED

File Size: 72 KB

Asclepias speciosa Torr.

McPherson County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 24-40 inches

Family: Apocynaceae - Dogbane Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August

Stems:

Erect, simple; plants sparsely to densely puberulent, not glaucous; sap milky.

Leaves:

Opposite; petiole .08 to .5 inch; blade cordate to ovate, lanceolate, oblong, or elliptic, 2.8 to 5.5 inches long, 1.5 to 4.3 inches wide, margins entire, tip acute or rounded.

Inflorescences:

Umbel-like cymes, 1-6, terminal and axillary, 10-40-flowered.

Flowers:

.7 to 1 inch tall, .6 to .8 inch wide; calyx lobes 5, lanceolate, .16 to .25 inch; corolla purplish rose, lobes reflexed, elliptic, .3 to .5 inch; hoods 5, pale pink to white, spreading, .3 to .5 inch, margins with a pair of blunt teeth below middle, tip long-tapering; horns sickle-shaped, 0.4-0.6 times as long as hoods, united to lower 1/3--1/2 of hoods, arching over anther head.

Fruits:

Pods, spindle-shaped, 3.5 to 4.7 inches long, .8 to 1.2 inch wide, covered with numerous awl-shaped projections, woolly; seeds elliptic, .25 to .25 inch, tufted with white silky hairs, 1.2 to 1.6 inch long.

Habitat:

Moist soils of mixed-, shortgrass, and sand prairies, roadsides, waste ground, flood plains, lake margins.

Distribution:

West 3/4 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Native American used a decoction of plant tops as an eyewash for snow blindness; a poultice of mashed roots was applied for rheumatism; a decoction of seeds was used to draw poison from snakebites; and the milky juice was used to remove corns and calluses and heal sores, cuts, and ringworm and was dried and allowed to harden as chewing gum. The green, immature fruits were peeled and the inner layer eaten raw; and young, unopened buds were boiled with meat, gravy, or soup.

Comments:

Formerly treated as Asclepiadaceae - Milkweed Family. Named for Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine.

Showy milkweed